


Oh, there you are, Merry!

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: Mike and Merry's Super Epic Road Trip [1]
Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 05:16:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3369188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which a pair of roadtripping 12-year-olds find their way into the Flynn-Fletcher back yard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oh, there you are, Merry!

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY! THREE IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS FIC:  
> 1\. It neither works with AYA nor (by extension) my other in-progress PnF fic.  
> 2\. It's the setup for a crossover. There are going to be two more pieces in this series; one's finished, one's not.  
> 3\. Have you ever noticed how, like, nobody in Phineas and Ferb EVER texts? They're _always_ calling each other...
> 
> As always, many thanks to my darling Mags.

On average, Ferb Fletcher woke up before his brother, Phineas, by about ten minutes. Ferb suspected that Phineas had no inkling of this; despite appearances, Phineas was basically a zombie until he had some food in him.

That morning, not for the first time, Ferb caught Phineas trying to head down to breakfast with his shirt inside out. He caught his brother by the shoulders and turned him around, directing him back into the room.

“Shirt, Phin,” he prompted.

Phineas waved a hand vaguely. Ferb figured that if he managed an inside-out shirt a second time he could just embarrass himself in front of Isabella, and Ferb wouldn’t say a word.

(But he might snicker a little if he were far enough away.)

However, if one encountered Phineas Flynn _after_ breakfast, one would never know that he is not (in strictest terms) a “morning person.”

It was 8:30AM, and Phineas’s shirt had been turned right side out. Isabella hadn’t yet shown up to try, fruitlessly, to convince a distracted 11-year-old boy to notice her feelings for him, but the day was still young. Phineas hadn’t even gotten in his first catchphrase of the day yet.

“- Ferb, I know what we’re going to do today!”

Well, _now_ he had.

“Hey, would you go pick up the fancy columns?” Phineas requested, frowning at his clipboard. “The guy said their truck is on runs back and forth to some building downtown all day.”

Ferb nodded. He attached the trailer to his bike so that he’d have a way to bring the columns home.

He was travelling on autopilot – not literally, as his feet were actually on the pedals, but he was working on it – and didn’t see the boy coming until it was almost too late. Ferb swerved, and luckily managed to avoid collision, but then nearly wrecked his bike crashing into a wall.

The boy helped him up, looking concerned.

 _“Sorry,”_ he signed.

“No, it was –“ Ferb started, then he stopped. “ _My fault. Sorry.”_

_“You okay?”_

Ferb nodded.

 _“Why do you have –“_ Ferb didn’t know the sign for ‘random assorted masonry,’ but he assumed that was it.

_“Making a castle. Want to help?”_

The boy grinned. “ _Yes.”_

\--

“Hellooo?”

Phineas stuck his head out of the garage; there weren’t many voices in the neighbourhood that he didn’t know.

The girl at the gate wasn’t one that he’d ever even seen around, though she wore a Fireside Girl uniform.

“Can I help you?”

“I hope so,” she replied. “I’m looking for Isabella Garcia-Shapiro? Her troop told me I’d find her here.”

“Oh!” said Phineas, grinning. “She’s not here yet, but you can wait, if you want. She helps out more days than not.”

“Thanks,” said the girl. She crossed the yard and held out a hand. “I’m Merry, by the way. Sorry for invading your yard.”

“It’s not a problem. Everyone’s welcome!” Phineas replied. “I’m –“

“Phineas Flynn, I imagine,” Merry said. “I read Isabella’s column.”

Phineas rubbed his neck. “I’d forgotten about that.”

Merry laughed. “Too busy doing impossible things, I suppose.” She glanced around. “Where’s the famous Ferb?”

“He went to pick up some supplies. He’ll be back soon.”

Merry leaned against the tree. “So what’s today’s big plan?”

“We’re building a castle so we can practice our medieval siege techniques!” Phineas announced brightly.

“Sounds like fun,” replied Merry.

“Should be!” Phineas said. “You know, if you and Isabella don’t have any other plans, you can help out. We could always use another pair of hands.”

“That sounds awesome,” said Merry. She pulled a cell phone out of her pocket. “I should check in with my brother, though; we talked about meeting up later today.”

Phineas smiled, but didn’t respond verbally, expecting her to make a phone call. Instead, she tapped out a text with remarkable speed.

“There,” she said, tucking her phone away again. “Now he’ll know where to find me.”

Just then, Isabella wandered into the yard.

“Hey, Phineas,” she greeted. “What’cha – who are you?”

“Isabella!” Merry exclaimed. “Wait, no, _you’re_ Isabella. I’m Meredith. Your troop told me you’d be here, and when you weren’t, Phineas said I could stay and wait.”

“ _Oh_ ,” said Isabella. “Right! I thought you were coming tomorrow.”

“Well –“ Merry gestured to herself, as if to say _I’m here_.

“Any big plans?” Phineas asked.

“That depends,” Isabella said, smiling. “What’cha _doin’?_ ”

\--

On the way back to the Flynn-Fletcher house, the boy introduced himself as Mikey Watts. They didn’t converse much on their journey, however, because it is important to keep one’s eyes on the road while on a bicycle.

As they turned onto Maple, Mikey paused to check his phone. Ferb stopped too, and looked at the other boy inquisitively.

 _Sister_ , Mikey signed. He responded quickly, and he and Ferb started off again.

Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet were already in the yard when they arrived, talking to Phineas and a girl who Ferb didn’t recognise.

“Hey, Ferb!” Phineas called. The brown haired girl turned around, her mouth open to say something, then paused, frowning.

She waved. Mikey waved back.

“Ferb, this is Merry,” Isabella said. “She’s a Fireside girl from out of town. We’re penpals!”

“Who is your friend?” asked Baljeet.

“His name is Mikey,” Ferb said. “I invited him to join us for the day.”

“Hi Mikey!” the others, sans Merry, chorused.

Merry gestured to the gang, and signed the same.

“What are you doing?” asked Isabella.

“Translating,” replied Merry. “Well, introducing.” She pointed to each of them and spelled out their names for Mikey, then repeated her exchange with Isabella for his benefit.

“I feel like I’m missing something here,” Buford said.

“Mikey’s Deaf,” Merry answered, “and I’m –“

“His sister,” Phineas and Ferb finished in unison.

“Woah, man, that was weird,” Phineas said, grinning.

Merry laughed, but it seemed to take her a minute to figure out how to translate what had just happened. She finished with an eye roll and, ‘ _brothers_.’

Mikey nodded, grinning.

Introductions having been made, Phineas started to assign jobs. Merry interpreted, to keep Mikey in the loop. Before long, though, the others took an interest in learning how to communicate more directly, asking Merry for help to fill in the blanks in their limited knowledge.

“Wait, Merry, what’s ‘drawbridge’ again?”

Merry patiently repeated the sign; she didn’t mind the repetition, she said, most people didn’t bother putting in the effort.

After the castle was built, but before the siege began, the kids flopped onto the grass and leaned against the front wall.

Ferb and Mikey sat down on one end, in comfortable non-communication. Buford, Baljeet, and Isabella separated them from their siblings, but Ferb could hear them chattering away down the line. Perhaps having a silent companion made one more inclined to babble, no matter how well or frequently you communicated.

They seemed to be enjoying themselves, at least.

\--

With half a glance at Isabella, Phineas pulled Merry away from the rest of the group, effectively claiming her as a teammate for the siege. As he’d predicted, Isabella frowned for a fraction of a second before walking over to join them.

The other boys grouped together, and Buford gleefully shouted, “Attack team!”

“So, another Trojan war, then,” Isabella observed. Phineas shrugged.

Merry shot them an inquisitive look, then directed her attention to her brother. Phineas was pretty sure that what she said to Mikey was just “ _Me or Ferb?”_

Mikey seemed content to stick with the offense.

“Hey, Iz, would you do a final check on the archer-bots?” Phineas requested.

“Okay!” Isabella replied, and scurried off.

“Is there anything you need me to do?” asked Merry, looking around.

“Not really. Everything’s pretty much set, we’re just waiting for the other team to get their trebuchet set up,” Phineas admitted. “I just had to –“

“Send Isabella away so you can answer my question,” guessed Merry. “You know, man, I think that’s an answer in itself.”

Phineas forced a chuckle. “Yeah, I s’pose so. But what am I supposed to do? She’s – they’re my best friends.”

“You could always be frank about it,” Merry said, shrugging. “Tell them it bothers you.”

“Is that what you do? When people do it to Mikey?”

Merry scrunched up her nose. “At home. We moved states two years ago, and I put my foot down. No friends who weren’t also friends with Mikey; we’re inseparable, and it pisses me off when people ignore him because what he has to say comes out of my mouth.”

“And that worked?” He picked up a sword and swung it experimentally. “I mean, I don’t want to upset anybody.”

“I’m sure your friends don’t want _you_ upset either,” Merry said, throwing a royal-looking dress aside in favour of a chainmail shirt, “or Ferb.”

Phineas took the chainmail she was holding and handed her a slightly smaller replacement. “This’ll fit you better.”

“Thanks,” said Merry. “The thing is, they’ll never know you’re upset if you don’t tell them.”

“I dunno, Ferb’s always saying I’m an open book.”

“Have they noticed?”

“No.”

“Well there’s your answer.”

They fell silent, pulling on their armour.

“It’s just –“ Phineas started, then stopped abruptly.

“What?”

“Isabella’s got this crush on me,” Phineas said, “but I –“

“Hold up, you _know_ about that?” replied Merry, freezing with her foot halfway into a boot.

“Yeah,” Phineas admitted, not making eye contact. “Why do _you_?”

“Penpals,” Merry said. “Okay, so, you know. How do you feel about her?”

Phineas shrugged. “I – I don’t know. But even if I did, I wouldn’t want to –“

“Date someone who doesn’t give your brother the time of day?”

Phineas didn’t say anything, instead moving closer to fix a strap on one of Merry’s arms. Merry put her free hand on his shoulder sympathetically.

“Hey, guys, the archerbots are all…” Isabella trailed off.

Phineas and Merry jumped apart.

“…ready.”

“Great!” said Phineas, feeling a little guilty. “Put on your costume, Isabella, it’s time to win a war!”

\--

 _“What…?”_ Mikey asked, eyes glued to his sister.

She shrugged, glancing from Phineas to Ferb, to the castle that was floating gently upwards.

“Don’t worry about it,” Isabella said, patting Merry’s shoulder. “Hey, Phineas – Oh, there you are, Perry!”

Sure enough, their clever platypus had reappeared. Ferb, who had more than used up his energy for speaking for the day, once again wondered where Perry wandered off to during the days.

Mom stuck her head out the back door. “Hey, kids. Who wants pie?”

“Ooh, we do!” Baljeet and Buford answered in enthusiastic unison.

Merry started to relay Mom’s question to Mikey, but paused when her phone dinged loudly. To his curious look, she replied, “ _Sorry. Mom.”_ And then her hands flew, communicating some message to her brother that was well beyond Ferb’s signing vocabulary.

“ _C’est nos maman,_ ” she said aloud. “Looks like we can’t stay for pie after all; Mom and Pop will be here in ten, and Mama's all about the schedule. We’re heading westward tonight, apparently.”

“Aw, that’s too bad,” said Phineas. “Mom’s pies are the best.”

“Thank you, Phineas,” Mom said. “I’m sure we can send some along with your new friends, if they’d like some.”

“That would be really nice, Mrs Flynn-Fletcher, thank you,” Merry said politely.

“Oh! Yeah!” said Phineas. “By the way, these are Mikey and Merry Watts. Merry’s Isabella’s Fireside Girls pen pal!”

“Well isn’t that nice,” Mom replied. She led the group into the kitchen and started to slice up the pie.

Ferb caught Merry giving Phineas a look that he might classify as gratitude, if that made any sense at all. What’s more, Phineas caught her eye and nodded almost imperceptibly.

 _Huh. That’s odd_ , Ferb thought. _Definitely means something_. He decided to ask Phineas about it later.

Before long, the twins’ parents showed up and whisked them away.

The next morning, while Phineas trudged through his morning routine, Ferb received a text.

_Hey_

_I got your # from Isabella through Mer_

_Hope you don’t mind_

_-M_

Ferb grinned, tapping out a quick reply. _Don’t mind at all. Does Merry need Phineas’s number, or did Isabella pass that along as well?_

The reply was swift: _Take a guess._

Ferb chuckled and forwarded Mikey Phineas’s contact information. He set the phone aside, looking up just in time to say, “Phin, socks first.”


End file.
